The pair worked on the project months ago but only just made it public, after completing his degree. Quan told Quartz the goal is to change the stereotype of asylum seekers as burdens on society, at a time when refugees face discrimination in the US, where Donald Trump recently issued a ban on accepting refugees, and in Europe, where France’s Marine Le Pen, for example, denies the legitimacy of asylum claims.

With “made by refugee” labels on everything from Albert Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence formula to Sigmund Freud’s books, Quan and Young’s project makes a powerful visual argument.

Image for article titled Refugees made some of the nicest things we have
Image: Photo courtesy of Kien Quan
Image for article titled Refugees made some of the nicest things we have
Image: Photo courtesy of Kien Quan
Image for article titled Refugees made some of the nicest things we have
Image: Photo courtesy of Kien Quan

Quan has opened a Facebook page full of photos documenting the project. Young has designed a set of stickers that people can download and stick on refugee-made products they spot themselves. “I want to make the project bigger,” Quan said. He adds that he hopes his work will help move the US conversation about refugees towards greater acceptance.

Correction: Unlike initially stated, Quan and Young created the project together from the beginning; it was not Quan’s concept to which Young merely collaborated.

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